VIDEO: Dan Walters says lawmakers should be worrying about the state's deteriorating roads before spending billions on high-speed rail.
Responding to a National Employment Law Project report on workplace abuses of undocumented immigrants, Assemblyman Roger Hernández, D-West Covina, is holding a hearing on the treatment of undocumented workers in California. Joining Hernández will be Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer for the California Labor Federation; Eunice Cho of the National Employment Law Project; Gabriela Villareal of the California Immigrant Policy Center; and Marta Medina of Warehouse Workers United. In room 317 of the State Capitol building, starting at 10:30 A.M.
Hernández is also using the opportunity to talk about the need for comprehensive immigration reform. It's worth noting that the most recent attempt at an overhaul, in 2007, collapsed in part because of labor's resistance to a guest-worker program, with union leaders saying such programs were ripe for exploiting immigrant laborers and threatened to undercut wages for American workers.
While Hernández's hearing focuses on undocumented labor, the two issues are bound together: proponents of a guest worker program say it is essential to preventing a future influx of undocumented laborers. Labor leaders have been adamant that any overhaul must involve a path to citizenship for the undocumented, but the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have agreed in principle on the need for a new worker visa program.
Speaking of immigration reform, today wraps up the California leg of a bus tour of immigrant families aimed at putting pressure on public officials. Advocates will rally outside of the Santa Clarita district office of Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, at 9 a.m. and will proceed to the Bakersfield office of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, at 2 p.m.
The Assembly Committee on Utilities & Commerce is holding an oversight hearing on tracking California's spending on energy efficiency programs. The hearing comes as the state begins weighing how to put Proposition 39 revenue towards energy efficiency upgrades, with a big chunk of it going to schools. Room 4202 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
It's the second day of a Senate education conference in Long Beach. Thirty senators will be at Long Beach City College, discussing topics like career technical education and incorporating technology into teaching math. Lawmakers will be hearing from Eloy Oakley, president of Long Beach City College, California State University Long Beach Vice Provost David Dowell and Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser.
The Bipartisan Policy Center is convening a cast of former public officials at the Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley today, the launch event for a series of talks, in cities across the country, on political polarization. We don't have space to print the entire guest list here, but it includes former California governor Gray Davis, former U.S. Senator (and briefly Health and Human Services secretary nominee) Tom Daschle, D-ND, and former U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe, R-ME. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
PHOTO CREDIT: Roger Hernández at the California State Capitol in Sacramento on Thursday, January 10, 2013 by Randall Benton / Sacramento Bee.
Editor's Note: Due to incorrect information provided by Hernández's office, an earlier version of this post mistakenly referred to the California Immigrant Policy Center as the Center for Immigrant Policy Solutions.
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